Thread: Saturday Bream on Waxworms

Nice catch and good pics of your catch.

Thanks folks. We had a good time catching them.

Originally Posted by slabsrus

Now that's a nice looking little batch of panfish. Them shellcrackers don't look a whole lot different then the bluegills. Shellcrackers do not exist up here so it is cool to see something different. Looks like they have a slightly longer face and tend to be a bit larger then the bluegills.

The shellcrackers do tend to average a bit larger and are usually thicker through the middle. I don't catch too many that large because I don't target them. They tend to hang out in deeper water than the bluegill most of the time and like worms and crickets down near the bottom. I love the thrill of seeing the bobber go under so much that I seldom ever get deep enough to tap into the big shellcrackers. The lake we caught these from, Tippah County Lake, is known for high quality redears and bluegill.

Okay, newbie fisherman here, hope i can ask a few questions. I mostly fish a local pond right now, the pond is about 90 years old, has bass, bluegill shellcracker, even saw a pike cought there. I mostly fish for bream, bluegill shellcracjers, there seems to be a ton of small brim, but every once in a while i get a good size fish, but in the same location as the small ones, about 3 ft with worms, guess the question is, do the small and larger fish mix, stay in the same area and at the same depth? now i'm fishing off the bank, so bear that in mind, have no idea how deep the pond is, structure or anything like that. never get a nibble unless it's worms, crickets, or wax worms, now some of the fish i cleaned have the yellow egg sacks in them, does that mean they are bedding? they seem to bite wether it's morning, noon or evening. Any thoughts appreciated.

totempole,

In lakes that have both big and small fish, they will sometimes mix in size, particularly around shoreline cover. Some lakes are overpopulated and don't produce very many big ones. However, in lakes that have good growth rates, I look for schools out on the shallow flats where the water is 3 - 6 ft. deep out a long cast from shore. Usually if you find a school out there, most will be of similar size and are often larger than those close to shore. Keep casting and searching without letting the bait sit in one spot for more that a couple of minutes. If it is windy, let the wind drift your bobber until you find out where they are at. If you're not sure of the depth then probe the area by casting out a weight and counting how long it takes for the weight to hit bottom (your line will go slack).

Keep in mind that others are highly successful catching big bream using poppers along the shore and still others using drop shot rigs in 20 feet of water. They can be anywhere, but I can usually find good size fish in the 3 - 6 ft. depths pretty consistently except in winter or in very clear waters.

Cricket, I plan to hit Tippah for the first time soon. You need to hook me up with a tagalong trip.

Catching big bluegill can be very challenging. After all, they didn't get to be big bluegill by biting at everything. The big un's tend to hang around underwater cover such as submerged trees and weed beds. They also favor deeper water than the small ones do. To catch large gills, you're probably going to have to go deep. Use a jig head with a worm or grub trailer. During spawning they will come shallow to spawn, but once spawning is over, they tend to deep again.

nice catch, and good eating.

Nice catch..........